Paroled activist Berenson can leave Peru

Updated 6:21 pm, Monday, December 19, 2011

Photo: Carlos Contreras

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Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson sits in a migration office with her son, in stroller, in Lima, Peru, Monday Dec. 19, 2011. Peru's anti-terrorism attorney Julio Galindo said Sunday he will seek misconduct charges against the three judges who granted Berenson permission to leave the country for the first time since her 1995 arrest. Galindo said he would ask prosecutors on Monday to charge the judges with violating anti-terrorism laws by clearing Berenson to travel to New York City with her toddler son to spend the holidays with her family. Despite the court's approval, the 42-year-old Berenson was prevented from boarding a flight on Friday. Berenson, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, was put on parole in 2010 while serving a 20-year sentence for aiding the leftist rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. (AP Photo/Carlos Contreras) less

Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson sits in a migration office with her son, in stroller, in Lima, Peru, Monday Dec. 19, 2011. Peru's anti-terrorism attorney Julio Galindo said Sunday he will seek misconduct ... more

Photo: Carlos Contreras

Image 2 of 4

Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson sits in a migration office with her son, in stroller, in Lima, Peru, Monday Dec. 19, 2011. Peru's anti-terrorism attorney Julio Galindo said Sunday he will seek misconduct charges against the three judges who granted Berenson permission to leave the country for the first time since her 1995 arrest. Galindo said he would ask prosecutors on Monday to charge the judges with violating anti-terrorism laws by clearing Berenson to travel to New York City with her toddler son to spend the holidays with her family. Despite the court's approval, the 42-year-old Berenson was prevented from boarding a flight on Friday. Berenson, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, was put on parole in 2010 while serving a 20-year sentence for aiding the leftist rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. (AP Photo/Carlos Contreras) less

Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson sits in a migration office with her son, in stroller, in Lima, Peru, Monday Dec. 19, 2011. Peru's anti-terrorism attorney Julio Galindo said Sunday he will seek misconduct ... more

Photo: Carlos Contreras

Image 3 of 4

Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson sits in a migration office with her son, in stroller, in Lima, Peru, Monday Dec. 19, 2011. Peru's anti-terrorism attorney Julio Galindo said Sunday he will seek misconduct charges against the three judges who granted Berenson permission to leave the country for the first time since her 1995 arrest. Galindo said he would ask prosecutors on Monday to charge the judges with violating anti-terrorism laws by clearing Berenson to travel to New York City with her toddler son to spend the holidays with her family. Despite the court's approval, the 42-year-old Berenson was prevented from boarding a flight on Friday. Berenson, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, was put on parole in 2010 while serving a 20-year sentence for aiding the leftist rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. (AP Photo/Carlos Contreras) less

Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson sits in a migration office with her son, in stroller, in Lima, Peru, Monday Dec. 19, 2011. Peru's anti-terrorism attorney Julio Galindo said Sunday he will seek misconduct ... more

Photo: Carlos Contreras

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A photo provided by NASA shows the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft is rolled out by train on its way to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft with Expedition 30 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kononenko of Russia, NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut and Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers is scheduled for 7:16 p.m. local time on Wednesday, December 21. (AP Photo/NASA/Carla Cioffi) less

A photo provided by NASA shows the Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft is rolled out by train on its way to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft ... more

Photo: Carla Cioffi

Paroled activist Berenson can leave Peru

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LIMA, Peru — Three days after barring her exit, Peruvian migration officials gave U.S. parolee Lori Berenson a document Monday clearing her to leave the country with her toddler son to spend the holidays with her family in New York City.

The 42-year-old was convicted in 2001 of acting as an accomplice to terrorism while aiding the leftist Tupac Amaru rebel group. Despite a court's approval, authorities prevented her from boarding a flight to New York on Friday, saying she needed an additional document.

"She called and said, 'I've got the permission to leave,' and the next step is for her to get on a plane and get here," father Mark Berenson said by phone from New York.

Mark Berenson said he didn't yet know when his daughter would be flying home for her first trip out of Peru since her 1995 arrest.

When paroled last year, Berenson had served three-quarters of a 20-year prison term.

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"I'm just glad that they finally resolved the thing," Mark Berenson said.

Lori Berenson admits helping Tupac Amaru rent a safe house where authorities seized a cache of weapons after a shootout with the rebels. She insists she didn't know guns were stored there and says she never joined the group.

In 1996, a military court of hooded judges convicted Berenson of treason and sentenced her to life in prison. After U.S. pressure, she was later retried by a civilian court.